I know this will offend some people and for that I apologize in advance.

The launch of the Xbox One for me, in a small way, feels like 9/11. I feel like I am witnessing something that will change the video game world forever, that it will never be the same.

The physical media is now nothing but a handy carry case for the code, the right to execute said code is handed out or taken back by Microsoft and the publishers. Something I have not seen many people mention is that if you get banned from Xbox Live, if your profile gets suspended or banned, it seems to me like you will lose access to ALL your game.

This is the brave new digital world we live in. Hopefully ten or twenty years down the line the GOG.com's of the world will win out against the closed platform Microsofts.

Great video today Jim! Love it! Now on to the subject of the Xbox (N)one, I hope this thing flops harder than a freshly-caught trout in the Sahara Desert! >_> This thing does not deserve to sell well, it represent everything wrong with the the Video Game Industry and Industry in general in a small box of misery. But hey there's TV, that sells right? Right!? :D

I sort of wish I could be outraged about this, but I haven't owned a console since the original Xbox. I can't really say I would buy it if it was completely free with no BS restrictions. Consoles in general are more or less obsolete and in the end the Xbone will only sell as much as people are willing to buy into it. It doesn't hail the end of gaming, not if gamers don't want it to.

Seriously I imagine we can expect to see continued growth in PC game sales this year. Also with the Xbone, Ps4 and PCs all using the same hardware I imagine us PC users will be seeing better ports and fewer console exclusives. It's a good time to be a PC gamer.

See you down the 19th Jim! That was excellent. My opinion, just ignore these cretins, don't buy their stuff. Okay, easy for me to say, I'm a PC man through and through. However, just keep on with the old generation of games and platforms and refuse to buy a thing until a year or two after the thing has come out. By that time the following will have occurred:-

A reasonable games library should have built up on that particular platformA initial prices should have droppedThey should have cottoned on to the outcry that has emerged and thus dropped some of the less reasonable features.

However, these are all assumptions and all include the key word 'should'. They all assume that Microsoft et al are a sensible firm that runs a sensible business model and does not take its customers for granted. It also assumes that your average consumer has a reasonable amount of critical thinking skills and thus is aware if and when it is being taken for a ride.Thus, this generation will be a test of the consumers more than anything. Will their common sense outweigh their vanity or visa-versa? That, in my opinion remains to be seen.

The barring of games, way to kill what first started the game industry. to screw up so bad to cause physical harm bad design and bad thoughts remember games get better with liberty as in fallout 3 the access to change from 8 weapons that's a simple step forward, the original XBOX controller had two spare buttons to get odd jobs however the odd job was switching weapons activating combos or stuff that that YOU the player could chose!

So does anyone else have concerns about the newly disclosed NSA prism information and the fact that the XBone is essentially a full surveillance system?

As for the topic in general, not too bothered, one look at fatuglyorslutty.com turned me off ever migrating from my PC games. All this other stuff just re-enforces that notion. At least steam has bouncing off the walls crazy sales at least twice a year to justify it's little DRM and need to be online to download the game then play offline for months on end.

Kuilui:If only this video could be shown on screen at the E3 conference while Microsoft is up on stage trying to convince everyone that being treated like a criminal and not being allowed to own the things they buy is really super awesome we promise because ummm, TV!

Well, you never know. Perhaps some well known hacktivist group known for standing up for the First Amendment and the rights of individuals could POSSIBLY see this and figure out a way to play it while Microsoft is trying to do its schpiel. *grins interestingly in Anonymous's direction*

Seriously, though...I think the only way Microsucks will get the hint is if the One becomes one of the worst flops in the history of everything. Personally, I feel this generation of consoles is a wash. Just look at what Yahtzee said in his last video and you'll get the idea.

Jaeger_CDN:Sony won't have a choice if they want anything other than 1st party exclusives.

Do you really think the reason EA pulled the online pass thing was because they knew this crap wasn't coming down the pipes? If Sony wants any EA or even Ubisoft games on their system they have to toe the line on this DRM scheme.

As for Nintendo, EA pretty much said that even developing for the WiiU is a meh-maybe thing

Well they do have a choice.IF Sony manages to own this generation, be it through having the best console/marketing or, in fact, best image, EA and Ubisoft would have no choice.If Sony would have a marketshare of something like 60% and MS shares the 40% left with Nintendo, EA and Ubisoft would jump on the bandwagon no matter if Sony has no DRM of this kind, simply to not loose more than half the market. The whole scenario is hypothetical of course; but what I'm trying to say is that the publishers, no matter how evil they are, won't drop support for the console with the biggest share.Maybe they'll give the Xbone benefits to lure customers over, but they won't drop support completely.

It, without question, would take balls for Sony to pull this off, and that's my sticking point. I really want this to happen, but I don't have a good feeling because I know how unlikely that is and I cannot fool myself about it. :/

Well, I guess the best thing is waiting for their conforence...CAPTCHA: gimme pizzaYes please! :D

sturryz:The Xbox Two will require you to wear an ankle brace that has to connect to the internet every 12 hours or the the ankle brace blows your leg off.

That's very mild. I'm pretty sure they'll require you to have a locking device around your balls every moment you sit within visible range of the XBox (Kinnect -will- see you trying to hide or remove it), which will explode on the mere thought of not giving microsoft all your cash.

Don't have balls? Sorry, you need them for our console - you'll either have to have a pair installed (at your expense), or just piss off and die.

Additionally, you will need special dispensation for Microsoft to leave the general vicinity of your Xbox. If you are vacationing, you may transfer your license to a different Xbox 2 for a fee, or use a limited number of annual "offline vouchers" if you won't be near one.

Microsoft will laud these options as generous" and 80% of the consumer market will say they "don't mind" and it's "not that bad."

Or not notice until they buy the XBox and realise all too late their mistake.

It's funny, I was just at GameStop, and the cashier I was talking to (I typically like to drum up conversations with these guys) said he actually WAS excited for the Xbos One, because of Halo 5. I didn't get a chance to talk to him anymore because there was someone behind me, but I'm sorry, I don't care WHAT games you're excited for, if they're on the Xbox One, they're not worth it... Or rather they are, they're just being held ransom, as Yahtzee puts it.

Oh, and I say this one funny YouTube comment that I had to repeat here:

"Xbox One? More like Xbox LOST!"

Edit: After seeing the video, I am now no longer surprised that the GameStop cashier didn't seem that upset by what the Xbox LOST is doing.

But Jim there is just one problem with media that you buy. You have never owned a piece of media for sale, your just getting a license grant to use it. All of this is made possible thanks to the eula agreements you agree to every-time you purchase a game/sarcasm.

Please note that really was sarcasm, I do not support laws likes this in anyway due in part that it does make it illegal for your to lend, borrow or sell software you payed for.

Thank God I'm a Nintendo fanboy...and that they're the company that isn't taking away user rights little by little with DRM schemes and always online bullshit. I respect them for that more than anything else, even if they're tech is a little weak and they won't get much third party support.

Even so, here's hoping the PS4 won't pull this kind of shit. I started out last console generation with a 360, then got a wii, then a PS3. I think I have more games for the PS3 on virtue of them having better exclusives alone, but even my wii saw more use than my 360 did. I think last time I played it was for Gears 3, and I wasn't interested enough in the series to continue to the prequel.

I'll admit even as a Nintendo fan: If Sony doesn't pull this crap on us, then they'll be the most appealing system this console cycle due to their exclusives, third party support, and graphical power...but we'll have to wait and see. I won't say that Sony is perfect until after they've told us what their console does.

Even so, I already have a Wii U and have been having a blast with it, so whatever.

There's no question, people will hack the console to make it work properly. With that in mind, will Microsoft be like Sony and sue, or will the judges finally not side with a corporation and keep with the rights of first ownership that lets us do what we want with something we own?

sadmac:Getting real sick of Jim talking about corporations needing to put the consumer first. Why does it matter if a corporation is shitty to its consumers? How does it affect you? It's not like you're doing business with them, because surely you wouldn't actually pay someone to treat you this way, right? Right?

The problem with Jim getting upset about EA or Microsoft or whoever is the same as the problem with people who get angry because other people are gay: all of this "corporate abuse" is happening between two consenting parties in the privacy of their own homes. It doesn't involve you unless you not only consent to have it involve you, but CONTINUOUSLY PAY MONEY to be involved.

You need to Google 'False Equivalency'. Because you clearly don't understand the concept, and just made one.

He's upset because it predicates on ignorance. The amount of people that don't understand how profoundly this product will re-conceptualize the fundamental structure of 'ownership' is staggering. And in their ignorance, they will end up supporting a product that will have widespread, negative repercussions in the years to come. This isn't a 'slippery slope' fallacy; it's literary re-writing the concept of ownership.

If any clunky, ill-fitted analogy were to be drawn, it would be on par with the *opposite* of your proposal. It's an attempt by a far-reaching organization to take rights away, prevent them from being codified, or denying they existed in any form to begin with.

Xman490:I, as a singular person (and NOT for One), am boycotting the Microsoft E3 conference because of their horrible DRM. If Sony doesn't plunge down that rabbit hole, I think people are justified in becoming/remaining PlayStation fanchildren.

It was some of the most pathetically self-deluding bullshit I think I've ever seen. FFS there were people saying the conference sold them or that Sony needs to "up it's game"... how stupid can people be?

OT -- This goes in my treasure trove of must-link-other-people-to-it of videos.

And, yet, watch this thing still sell like gangbusters because gamers are just too addicted to their hobby to have any care how they get treated. As long as we get the next shiny.

Well, that's probably being too much a Negative Nancy, but it's hard to deny that the reason game companies have been escalating to these nefarious practices is because not enough of us are voting with our dollars. In my opinion, the video game community has been far too tolerant for too long of bad business and bad games, and I think it's time we become more discerning and assertive of our preferences and demand to be treated respectfully as customers, rather than cash-producing crops to be harvested. I think any other industry that treated its customers the way the triple-A segment has (and I emphasize that the bulk of the shit in the video game industry seems fairly isolated to just the triple-A segment) would find itself either bankrupt or relegated to a very niche market in short order. But often, it feels like the plurality of the video game community has become electronic-crack junkies who'll put up with anything as long as they get their next high-fidelity graphics fix, and, given the behavior of the game companies, it would seem the game companies are counting on this to be exactly true. Oh, wouldn't it be so great to shock the absolute living hell out of them all by voting with our dollars (and our feet) to turn away from their upcoming offerings in a ubiquitous display of complete and utter disgust at the direction they are taking this industry? I think if the entire gaming community really did that, we would find these companies, almost overnight, absolutely killing themselves to back-peddle on everything they have been pushing toward in an effort to win back our dollars. If they don't, then they'll likely find themselves quickly out-of-business, with nothing to blame other than their own failure to address the concerns of and provide proper service to their market.

I know I refuse to buy the Xbox-One in it's current state, and I am certain many here on the Escapist feel similar. The question is whether the gaming community at large is willing to make the same firm stance (and really mean it this time).

sturryz:The Xbox Two will require you to wear an ankle brace that has to connect to the internet every 12 hours or the the ankle brace blows your leg off.

God you anti corporate liberals will complain about everything. It's only a leg. Who cares when I can get my dew and game on and play the amazing games like call of duty animal kingdom edition now with 5 THAT's RIGHT 5 new pixels per square meter.

Honestly though I want Microsoft to fail so badly because of this but I'm kinda worried they won't. Oh well High ho high ho it's off to PC I go.

So wait you hate jim's followers but you agree with them. LOL good enough for me. when party lines can't even cause people to like the x box you gotta know your boned.

I think one of us is missing the other's sarcasm. For my part I was talking about being cool with getting a leg blown off. Thought that made it obvious but typed stuff can get misread so easily.

Cecilthedarkknight_234:But Jim there is just one problem with media that you buy. You have never owned a piece of media for sale, your just getting a license grant to use it. All of this is made possible thanks to the eula agreements you agree to every-time you purchase a game/sarcasm.

Please note that really was sarcasm, I do not support laws likes this in anyway due in part that it does make it illegal for your to lend, borrow or sell software you payed for.

Actually, you do own the medium, i.e. the CD/DVD/Bluray disc that you purchased. What has usually been argued is that you are licensing the information that is contained on that medium. You are free to do with the medium as you please; however, you are not free to do with the information as you please. This has been the argument, as I understand it. The medium and the information are considered separate entities.

Now, granted, I feel that taking the strict sense of that often goes too far in justifying some of the inconveniences that content publishers have put customers through, but that is the argument that has been made in the past.

OFF-TOPIC: whoever designed this little "The Sub" video ad on the web-page needs to get his skull cracked. The thing is in the way of one-quarter of the text box that I'm typing this post in, obscuring it so I can't see what I'm typing, and I can't get rid of it.

MINOR EDITS: to correct spelling and other errors because a stupid video ad was obscuring what I was typing.

Yes, that's all very true, and so VERY, VERY SAD....I just hope my 360, PS3, Gamecube and PS2 never die on me.Because I will have to hunt for new secondhand units of those.NEVER will I buy this monstrosity.

Didn't Sony say the exact same thing about PS4? That it's up to the publishers whether or not to allow their game to be sold used? Where is the hate for them? Not saying this in some weird attempt to defend Microsoft, but I'd rather gamers don't flee into the arms of a menacing wolf simply because the other wolf is growling and snapping more.

This is really the logical conclusion to IP laws, the only reason no-one's been feeling it is because they haven't been trying to think of ways to enforce it very effectively. Now they are. The eventual dream: People who control the IP charging you per-view per-person, on a medium that you can only have as long as it's being viewed if there's any medium at all.

So I am curious how does everyone really see this going? Sorry if I haven't paid attention to other posts but I wonder if this will hurt the current generations like everyone hopes. I am just going off simple numbers,but considering that if we want a good gaming PC that is about 1-3 grand and you have gaming consoles that only cost what analysts have guesstimated at 350-400 they still might have a leg up no matter what MS or Sony pulls.

sadmac:Getting real sick of Jim talking about corporations needing to put the consumer first. Why does it matter if a corporation is shitty to its consumers? How does it affect you? It's not like you're doing business with them, because surely you wouldn't actually pay someone to treat you this way, right? Right?

The problem with Jim getting upset about EA or Microsoft or whoever is the same as the problem with people who get angry because other people are gay: all of this "corporate abuse" is happening between two consenting parties in the privacy of their own homes. It doesn't involve you unless you not only consent to have it involve you, but CONTINUOUSLY PAY MONEY to be involved.

I've heard this argument a lot. "Don't get upset, just don't give them any money". This is all well and good, and exactly what I plan on doing, however, the problem is, as Yahtzee pointed out, MS and probably Sony, are ending up holding a great deal of our hobby hostage. If you want to take part in a very large chunk of gaming as a hobby you're going to have to "negotiate with the terrorists" so to speak.

It's a little disheartening that so many good titles are going to get tied to this anti-consumer crap. I will, of course, have no part of it, but don't expect me to go quietly into that good night as a huge section of my hobby gets whored out to EA.

This trend isn't going to change until we remind the corporations that they need us, but we don't need them. And the only way we can do that is by not buying the shit they try to push. We can live without it, but they can't live if we decide we're willing to live without it rather than put up with all this crap. We have absolute power here.

the more i've read the more im sure i know know what the immature "cloud gaming" is about and the more i believe this will probably end with Microsoft in court (in Europe anyway)

and Jim was exactly right when he spoke of "Statutory Rights".

"Statutory Rights" cannot be signed away. it's actually illegal to even try and get someone to do so in the UK (under the sale of goods act) which is why ever competition or promotional offer in the UK that has conditions and basic rules always carries an always visable "This does not affect your statutory rights" sign tacked on by the legal department....and our "Statutory Rights" (and much of rest of the worlds) actually have a great deal to say on the subject of "economic loss" and its deliberate incursion on one party by another at a given point in the supply chain because it runs contrary to the entire basic structure of all civilized Human trade.

ye see "second hand" is not just "second hand"....at every point in a chain when a thing is sold, thoughtout the entire time a thing exists someone gets paid (even its so casual both parties involved don't see it as a sale and even if said sale only results in "payment in kind" it's sill "economic activity") and easily half the real world economy is "off the books" and more than that has to stay that way to stay as vibrant and fundamentally supportive of the "real economy" as it is.

it's a precedent that cannot be allowed to gain ground and i don't mean "cannot be allowed" in the sense "let's start a facebook page!" i mean cannot be allowed in the sense the highest courts have already laid down the law and the only reason its not being applied is because as of yet said courts are largely ignorant about what the relatively new video games industry is actually up to.

there has been a crunch coming in this area for a while and if anything Microsoft have seriously shot themselves in the foot by selling physical media and and then saying "you can sell it on once but no more that that" thereby placing the incurrence of deliberate economic lose squarely in their hands.